•of which is not approved.— The reafon of this is that the lending of
■ money, is, in the immediate aft, equivalent to a loan of any other
thing -j-, and an aft-of benevolence;' ("whence it is that if a perfon
fhould tender a loan o f rnoney to another, expreffing. his -intention by
the word Areeat,— as if he fhould fay, “ I deliver thefe ten dirms as
“ an Areedt,”— it is valid; and alfo, that no.perfon who is incapable
of any gratuitous aft, fuch .as an infant or a lunatic, is competent to
this deed :)— but in the end it operates as an exchange, fince the borrower
gives to the lender an equalfum, but not the identical fpecie he
received.— In confideration, therefore, of th e immediate aht, arelpite
is not binding upon the lendpr, as there can be no constraint in an
aft purely gratuitous; and, in confideration of 'the end, the refpite is
not approved, for in this cafe the tranlaftioil would refolve itfelf into
a fale of money for money, which is ufury.— It is otherwife, in the
bequeji of a loan for a fixed period; for if a perfon bequeath the loan of
one thoufand dirms to another, for a year, (for inftance,) the performance
of this is’ incumbent on the executor; nor as he entitled to
make any demand on the legatee until the expiration of the term,
fince this bequefl is o f a.gratuitous nature, and refembles the bequeft
of the fervices of a Have, .or the ufe o f :a houfe.
cliftinct and feparate nature. -In the one the intention is to deftroy the fubftance o f what is
borrowed, that is, to fpeiid the identical money received, and afterwards return an equal
number o f fimilars. In the other, the intention Is to enjoy the ufufrudt without injuring
the fubftance, which is to be returned in its identical ftate.
t Literally, ct a KAR7. is , in its immediate occurrence, equivalent to an AR E E A T .”
G H A P .
C H A P . VIII.
O f Ribba, or Ufury.
R i b b a , in the language of the l a w , fignifies an excefs, according
to a legal ftandard of meafurement or weight, .in one,of two homogeneous
articles [of weight or meafurement of capacity] oppofed to
each other in a contraft o f exchange, and in which fuch excefs is fti-
pulatedas an obligatory condition on one of the parties, without any
return,— that is, without any thing being oppofed to it. The fale,
therefore, of two loads, of barky (for inftance) in exchange for one
load of wheat does not conftitute ufury, fince thefe articles are not
homogeneousand, on the other hand, the fale of ten yards of
Herdt cloth in exchange for five yards o f Herat cloth is not ufury,
fince, although thefe articles be homogeneous, ftill they are not
eftimable by weight or meafurement of capacity.
Usury is unlawful; and (according to our doftors) is occalioned
byfa te * , united with fpecies.— Shcfei maintains that ufury takes place
only in things of an fculent nature, or in money.— It is neceflary, in
order to the operation of the illegality, that the articles be homogeneous*
but an equality in point of weight or meafurement of capacity
annihilates the ufury.— It is to be obferved that a fuperiority or inferi- -
ority in the quality has no effeft in the eftablilhment of the ufury;
* It may be neceftary here to obferve that rate, among# the Mujfulmam,o.ppY\e% only to
articles o f weight or meafurement o f capacity, and not co articles o f longitudinal meafure-
ment, fuch as cloth, or the lik e ,— T h e phrafe here ufed implies an inequality o f r a t e w ith
a Jimilarity o f s p e c ie s .
V ol. II. r r and
Definition of
the term.
Ufury (occa-
fioned b y rate
united with
fpecies) is un,
lawful.